


Let It Snow

by queen_scribbles



Category: Pillars of Eternity
Genre: AU, Gen, Hidden Feelings, Rare Pairings, Snowed In, trapped together
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-01-14
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-10 04:09:16
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,690
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17418827
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/queen_scribbles/pseuds/queen_scribbles
Summary: For fill #72: Carol. Set in Adi’s AU where Heodan survives the bîaŵac. And I’m sort of cheating and using the title of my carol as the fic title because it fits and I can’t come up with anything better.





	Let It Snow

**Author's Note:**

> For fill #72: Carol. Set in Adi’s AU where Heodan survives the bîaŵac. And I’m sort of cheating and using the title of my carol as the fic title because it fits and I can’t come up with anything better.

 

It was an open secret that the Lady of Caed Nua had a soft spot for the quiet Aedyran who ran her keep’s craft hall. Everyone knew; from the freshest-hired servants to the friends who had been traveling with her for months. “Yeah, they got history,” the bearded blond farmer would confirm, then grin at the knowing look in his audience’s eyes as he shook his head. “Ain’t that kinda history, ‘least not far as I know. They just been travelin’ together the longest an’ saved each others’ lives a few times. That’ll make anyone close.” This sentiment--though more eloquently phrased in some cases--was echoed by any of her friends if asked. (And visitors were frequently curious) The only ones to deny or demur on the matter were Lady Adela and her Aedyran themselves. The latter with a small smile and shake of his head--”We are good friends, but she doesn’t treat me any differently”--the former with a blush hot enough to make clear she knew the denial was hogwash. Such was the state of things when the blizzard hit.

                                                  >O<   >O<   >O<

It came late in Majivérno, a day that started clear, but was ominously clouding over by lunch. The Watcher and her companions were just finishing  a few days’ rest and resupply at the keep. Their plan had been to set out for Defiance Bay and the animancy hearing in the morning, but the odds of that diminished with every degree the sky darkened.

“D’you think it’ll snow?” Adela asked from her perch on the counter, nose wrinkling in a mix of anticipation and concern. She didn’t want to delay too long from the quest before her, but snow was enough of a rarity in Ixamitl, she couldn’t help hoping there would be enough to enjoy. Even if it meant they were stuck here.

Heodan glanced out the window before replying. “Probably. That is usually what clouds like that mean. Is that good or bad?”

“Both?” Adela said sheepishly. “Snow is fun, but I really do need to get to the anmancy hearings.” She waved one hand toward the papers he had spread across the other half of the counter. “But I’m just thinking out loud, don’t let me distract you.”

He half smiled as he absently smoothed the pages with one hand. “It’s just the next order for Defiance Bay. I can double-check that and talk to you at the same time. And even if you _were_ distracting me, the next courier isn’t going for three days yet. Plenty of time to confirm the supply order.”

“Oh. Good.” Adela pulled her braid over her shoulder and played with it. “I wonder how often it snows out here...”

Heodan shook his head, still smiling. “You’d have to ask Edér,” he said. “Or maybe Hiravias. I’ve not been here any longer than you, remember?”

“Right, I-I know.” Adela nodded and curled the feathery tail of her braid around her thumb. “Gods, it feels like forever, doesn’t it? Rather than under a year?”

“To be fair, it’s been a very full  _‘under a year_ ’,” Heodan pointed out. “And we’ve fit enough adventure in that time to feel like several years, so it is understandable that it seems longer.”

She nodded absently, releasing her braid to instead rub her thumb over the thin white line that marked the back of her hand. Her gaze shifted unbidden to the scars that peeked out of his collar and climbed the side of his neck. “We have seen our share of excitement,” she agreed softly. But she didn’t want to spend a rare day of rest dwelling on melancholy or close calls, so she flashed a smile and a more cheerful tone as she finished. “Starting with that darn bîaŵac.”

“Wouldn’t it really be starting with the Glanfathan attack?” He pushed aside the papers, committing to the conversation rather than drudge work. “They did show up first.”

“Sure, if you really wanted to get into semantics, you could say that,” Adela conceded with a shrug. “But Glanfathans attacking caravans for trespassing isn’t that uncommon. Bîaŵacs are.”

“Fine, fine, you win,” he laughed. “I wasn’t trying to debate, my lady scholar. You have other friends far better at that than I.”

She laughed as well, drumming her fingers against her knee. “Well, then, since you appear to have chosen me over your paperwork, how shall we occupy our time?”

Heodan smiled and nodded toward the window. “Adi.”

“What?” She spun to look and broke into a huge grin at the sight of swirling white flakes outside..

“ _Yes!_ ” Adela almost fell off the counter in her scramble to get down and rush over for a better view. They were big flakes, too--fluffy and clumping rather than delicate.

“I suppose this means Defiance Bay will have to wait?” Heodan asked, leaning against the counter with a lingering smile as he watched her all but dance with joy.

“Yep,” Adela nodded, still looking out the window. She watched the snow fall for a few more seconds, then turned to face him. “We should head over to Brighthollow, since this place doesn’t have anyway for keeping warm.”

 _Aside from cuddling,_ a voice in her head chipped in, but Adela shushed it. “You can bring the manifests and all with you, work on them where it’ll be warm. And better-lit,” she added, nodding toward the flickering lanterns on the back wall.

Heodan nodded and gathered up the papers, slipping  them inside a record book for protection. In the time it took him to do that, and the pair of them to bundle up in cloaks and scarves, the snow had already begun to lay thick on the ground. Adela and Heodan both pulled their hoods as far forward as they could when opening the door was greeted with a blast of cold wind peppered with snowflakes. Adela shivered, but it wasn’t a terribly long walk from the craft hall to Brighthollow. She could manage.

In fact... The mischievous spirit of a middle child unfurled in her chest, and she dropped back a pace or two. The snow had accumulated just deep enough for her to scrape together a snowball without too much trouble. And she was, though years of practice, a very good shot. The snowball hit Heodan’s shoulder at just the right angle for some to catch his face when it flew apart.

He yelped and jerked around to look at her. “Adi!”

The wind shoved back her hood and whipped her hair as she giggled. “Sorry, I couldn’t  resist just one. I’m done now.”

They’d crossed half the distance now, so she didn’t bother fixing her hood. Which gave Heodan an opening to scoop a small handful of snow off a bush and unceremoniously drop it down the back of her shirt.

It was Adela’s turn to yelp. “Hey!”

“I couldn’t resist,” Heodan said, faint note of teasing in his voice. “Besides, now we’re even.”

She narrowed her eyes as melted snow trickled down her back and almost protested. But aside from knowing he was right, she also remembered that while she was a middle child, Heodan was a youngest. If he was even _slightly_ a typical youngest, the _best_ way escalation could end was in a soaking wet draw. So she rolled her shoulders and pulled her hood back up emphatically, trying to convince herself _those_ were her reasons for not continuing the snowball fight like she would have with Edér or Kana or pretty much anyone else.

Besides, they’d reached Brighthollow by now and there was no point in getting any wetter. And Heodan had a book. She didn’t want to ruin a book, did she? Or so she told herself.

They were greeted by cold silence, and Adela remembered. “I think everyone’s over in the main keep.”

“Having this place to ourselves might be nice,” Heodan commented. “No distractions if we turn to more serious matters.” He hefted the ledger with one hand and hung up his cloak with the other. “Chilly, though...”

Adela nodded. “They let all the fires die when no one’s in here. C’mon. My room has a fireplace, it’ll be easy to heat up.” She hung up her cloak and kicked off her boots before heading up the stairs. _The whole place to ourselves_ made something warm curl in her gut, but she shook it off. “I also have lots of books and a set of Kith’s Grace titles if we need something to do.”

“Kith’s Grace could be fun,” Heodan said. He hugged the ledger in close to his chest as they mounted the stairs--Adela suspected in an attempt to ward off the chill.

She used a spell to kindle the logs sitting in her fireplace and nodded toward the desk. “You can get settled, I need to get another chair.”

“Adela, I can-” she heard him start to protest as his book thumped on the desk, but she was already down the hall. One of the spare rooms had a desk with a cushioned chair, if she recalled correctly.

She did. The chair in question was both taller and heavier than her, but she gamely dragged it along the hallway until she ran into something. Something folk-shaped and warm.

“Adi.” There was a note of amused reprimand in Heodan’s voice when she tipped her head back to look up at him. “Don’t you think it’ll be easier if I handle that?”

She didn’t really have a good comeback, and so relinquished the chair. “Just bein’ careful,” she mumbled, playing with her necklace and shooting a glance at his arm.

A glance Heodan caught. “That’s all healed, Adi. Promise. It’s just stiff, I’m past the point where making it worse is a concern.”

“I know, it’s habit,” Adela sighed.

“Overprotective instincts are a habit?” he teased gently as he hefted the chair and started toward her quarters.

She rolled her eyes and laughed, falling in step behind him. “Worrying about my friends is habit. But I do have younger siblings, so yes, being overprotective is, too.” _Especially with you._

“That’s good to know,” he said, twinkle in his eye.

Adela just rolled her eyes again and made a shooing motion toward her door. She headed for the armoire to dig out her Kith’s Grace tiles while he got the chair situated. “It’ll be nice to play someone with a sense of compassion toward my lack of skill,” she commented ruefully, spilling the tiles across the desk.

Heodan chuckled sympathetically. “Hiravias is still ruthless, huh?”

She nodded. “And Kana’s not much better. He doesn’t _mean_ to absolutely trounce me, he just gets caught up in the competitive spirit. Edér likes it when he’s not the one losing by the most...” she flashed a smile. “You’re the only one who takes it easy on me sometimes. It’s a fun game, but winning once in a while makes it even more fun.”

“A common--and fair--sentiment,” he nodded, dealing out the tiles. “And all the reason I need to keep doing it.”

“It’s _greatly_ appreciated,” she said with a wry smile as she accepted her tiles.  “Now, let’s see what you’ve got.”

                                                 >O<   >O<   >O<

They played a few hands of Kith’s Grace as the fire blazed and popped, gradually warming the room around them. After each winning enough hands to be satisfied, they settled in with more serious pursuits--Heodan going over the supply order and Adela transcribing a couple new spells in her grimoire. An hour or so passed in comfortable, companionable silence before Adela broke it.

“I’ve missed this,” she blurted, pushing away her grimoire and leaning her elbows against the desk.

Heodan looked up, brows arched in confusion. “Missed what?”

“You.” She bit her lip and winced at the slip. _Smooth, Adi, real smooth._  “Spending time with you, I mean.” That was only marginally better, but it was _better_ , so she’d take it.

“Adi, we spent months together, even if you don’t start counting until Cilant Lîs,” he pointed out, carefully setting down his pen so it didn’t blot the manifest. “I’d think if anything you’d be getting rather sick of me.”

“Just the opposite. It’s only made the last couple stick out even more like a sore thumb,” she sighed and tugged on her braid. “I know it was far more adventure than you signed up for when you joined Odema’s caravan, and you largely stuck it out for me, but...” her gaze dropped briefly to the desk as she picked at a nail. “I got used to having you around, you know? And spending time with you is so... _calm_. So normal. And with everything crazy going on between the Watcher dreams and the Leaden Key and everything... normal is really, really nice.”

Heodan smiled bashfully. “Glad to help. And while I can’t say I miss the adventuring life too much, I did get enough of a taste to worry about y- all of you when you’re out.”

“You know we watch each others’ backs,” she shrugged, mentally debating whether or not to latch on to his almost slip. _Not_  won out, but only just. “You did more than your share of it, for which I am extremely grateful, before...”

“The dragon,” he finished simply, fingers of one hand flexing.

“The dragon,” Adela agreed with a nod. There was a lot hanging on those two words. A lot of emotions, a lot of other words, swallowed and left unsaid. “Much as I may miss traveling with you, it is a relief to know you’re safe _here_ , rather than diving into danger with me.That was much more than you signed up for. And I appreciate having you as the one oasis of normalcy in my life right now just as much as I did having you to watch my back before.” Impulsively, she pushed off the desk to lean over and kiss him on the cheek. That was innocent enough, right? With the tone of their conversation? Just simple gratitude, nothing of the feelings she didn’t want to spill out until life calmed down. If life calmed down. _One more reason to be happy he’s out of harm’s way now._  “This is definitely the better of the two...” Adela murmured softly, more to her hands and the surface of the desk than to Heodan as she sat back.

He was still looking at her like a man on the cusp of dawning realization, and she fumbled for a suitably distracting topic. The wind howled against the window, catching her attention and providing salvation in one fell swoop.

“Oh, my, the snow’s really picked up,” Adela said, sliding out of her chair and heading for the window. Heodan followed, and the two of them stared at the blinding white tableau for several seconds.

“That is indeed a lot of snow,” he said in agreement. One hand rested lightly against the pane and the other on her shoulder as he squinted slightly and reported with amusement, “Some of those drifts are as tall as you, Adi. I don’t think you’ll be going to Defiance Bay or _anywhere_ for a while.”

Warmed as she was by his apologetic smile, Adela shrugged. “The hearings have been dragging on for _months_ ,” she said dismissively, trailing one finger in an idle squiggle along the breath-fogged glass. “I’m sure they’ll still be going in a couple days. Especially if they’re dealing with this snow, too. In the meantime, we have everything we’ll need in here; from food and firewood through things to do and good company”--she tilted her head back to shoot him a smile--”I say let it snow.”

                                                 >O<   >O<   >O<

The gods must have decided to take her at her word--it snowed for two more days before it stopped, burying all of Caed Nua under a fluffy white blanket at least two feet thick. True to her word, though, Adela didn’t mind. She didn’t have anywhere to go in any hurry. Even if those two days were more than enough time for a certain soft-spoken Aedyran to start wondering about certain things.

 

**Author's Note:**

> There will probably be follow up to this at some point, because it’s a perfect storm(heh) of trapped together, (seemingly?) unrequited pining, and potentially two people, one bed. How does one resist that?


End file.
